Obama says new U.S. sanctions on Iran toughest ever

Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law on Thursday far-reaching new sanctions on Iran that aim to squeeze the Islamic Republic’s fuel imports and deepen its international isolation.

Obama said the new sanctions were the toughest ever passed by the U.S. Congress and would make it harder for Iran to buy refined petroleum as well as goods and services to modernize its oil and natural gas sector, the mainstay of its economy.

While the door to diplomacy remained open, he said, Iran would come under even greater international pressure if it continued to defy international calls to halt its uranium enrichment program.

The United States and its European allies suspect Iran is trying to build an atomic bomb, despite Tehran’s insistence that its nuclear program is for the peaceful generation of electricity.

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Gen McChrystal removed

WASHINGTON – US PRESIDENT Barack Obama yesterday removed his top US commander in Afghanistan following a public flap over the general’s controversial remarks to a magazine.

The unceremonious exit of General Stanley McChrystal injected greater uncertainty into the troubled war effort, taking place just as the United States was about to launch a major offensive in and around the key southern Afghan city of Kandahar, the stronghold of the Taleban.

Gen McChrystal, who derided the Obama administration and its handling of the war in Afghanistan in a lengthy profile in the Rolling Stone magazine, was summoned to the White House yesterday to explain his remarks.

After a 30-minute face-to-face meeting, Mr Obama said he accepted the resignation of the petulant general and relieved him of his command of US forces in Afghanistan. ‘It was a difficult decision, it saddens me to lose a soldier who I’ve come to respect and admire,’ said Mr Obama, noting that the decision was not prompted by the ‘personal insult’.

‘But war is bigger than any one man or woman. Difficult as this is, it is the right decision for our national security.’